Chicago garage-pop wonders Twin Peaks formed in 2010 and debuted at Riot Fest in 2013, the first year it took place entirely in Humboldt Park. The fest was beginning its rapid expansion, and organizers booked plenty of well-established locals—as well as a few, including Twin Peaks, who were beginning their own rapid rise. At the time, the band’s original members were all 19.
If Twin Peaks were aware of the sound problems, they kept it to themselves, playing straight through their hour-long set with professional precision leavened by playful goofiness. They looked so comfortable you’d think it wasn’t even possible for them to play a wrong note. And though they did a fair amount of stomping back and forth onstage and whipping their heads around, even those displays of enthusiasm felt relaxed. Twin Peaks have become a phenomenon by making music whose borrowings from the 60s and 70s rock canon feel lived in. They seem to have internalized this material at the level of muscle memory, so that they can play it as easily as I throw on a favorite T-shirt.
